that probably depends your situation. I'm not sure if you'd normally pass through immigration touching down in Amsterdam on the way to Italy (I'd assume so?).. so a two hour layover can disappear p.quickly waiting for bags/customs/immigration

however, assuming you *do* have a little time to play with.. there's a Wagamama at Amsterdam Zuid (about a 10min train ride from Schipol) which will fill a hole in your tum. it's not an Amsterdam 'thing' necessarily, but it'll be better than airport food :) most of the other things coming to mind will take a little longer to get to (hopping between trains/trams/buses, which is risky time-wise)

Yeah, you'll be going through European customs/immigration (for which the line can be quite long if you don't have an EU passport) upon arrival and if you leave the airport you'll have to go through security all over again before you can fly to Italy. Taking that into account, I suspect that two hours would really be too short to get anywhere in town and back. And I wish I could say Amsterdam had some vegan-worthy spots worth making the trip for, but sadly, it really really doesn't. I'd just grab a soy latte at the Starbucks in the airport, check out the duty free shop, and relax, if I were you.

_________________I ate the shiitake out of inappropriateness. - Hollie

Yeah going through security/customs twice - I did not think about that - (i wonder if US passport is considered EU-friendly or not?)

- And hanging out with a soy latte does sound good -

New info, I realized yesterday after checking my flight plan again, that i will have 4 hours between my flights - so that might change my plans just a bit, but it's still not a lot of time.... so - I will most likely just stay at the airport....

you may get lucky and speed through immigration and security at Schipol as at the boarding gate (at least, flights I've been on - maybe not all connecting flights are?), so potentially you don't have much to lose. depends how desperate you are, but I still think you could do Wagamama @ Amsterdam Zuid inside of a two hour roundtrip :D so a four hour layover may make it feasible..

though the quality (and menu..) seems to vary across locations - I've only been to the Leidseplein location in Amsterdam, and it was okay. nothing super special, but I'd eat there again (especially given the overall lack of other options!). I take family to Wagamama when I'm in Oz (it's easy for both omnis and vegans), and it's usually better than expected for a chain store. so iuno :) worth a shot if you're hungry, but it's definitely not a 'must see/do' for vegans passing through Amsterdam

I actually quite like Wagamama! I've never found their food particularly fried or greasy, it's all made fresh, and they've got a good number of vegan options. Plus they're really transparent about their ingredients and will happily sub stuff out for you (like using rice noodles in place of egg noodles per request). They even have a vegan dessert. It's kind of my go-to option when I'm dining with omnis who are afraid of more veg-oriented places. (Although, I agree that the quality varies per location and I think the Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein ones are both a lot better than the one at Zuid.)

That said, for me, it still don't think it's worth a trip in from the airport and potentially missing your connection.

_________________I ate the shiitake out of inappropriateness. - Hollie

Being a new vegan I would find it hard to go into Amsterdam and not jump back to vegetarian. The bakeries are to die for.

I would make the trip in though just for a quick look around. The train station is near enough to the RLD and just off there is Chinatown. The temple is worth seeing then going into the grocery shops is worth a trip just for the smells. I enjoyed a look around this shop http://www.himalaya.nl/index.php?taal=2 but didn't check out the teahouse for what they served. I was stuck with a bunch of tacky, cheapskate carnivores for the trip so only had time to run out while they were in a cafe for a quick look. The shop is at the end of RLD that is nearest to the train station.